Lost in Translation: 207 Foul-ups in EU FTA

South Korean Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon, in a December 2010 file photo.

President Lee Myung-bak’s administration has placed great emphasis on passing free trade deals with various countries, with one of the major accomplishments being its deal with the European Union. But an improper translation of the pact into Korean has become a major embarrassment to the government.

South Korea Minister for Trade Kim Jong-hoon on Monday said a total of 207 errors were found in the Korean-language version of the EU FTA that was submitted to the National Assembly. The types of errors varied and included grammatical mistakes, incorrect translations and outright omissions.

“The ministry as well as the government recognizes the gravity of the translation problem,” Mr. Kim told reporters during a briefing. “I am very sorry for the public’s anxiety (caused by the errors).”

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Mr. Kim attributed the numerous errors to several factors: overworked translators, lack of substantial review from outside firms as the ministry tried to cut costs and lack of a proper framework within the ministry to ensure that the agreement was translated properly.

As a consequence, the ministry on Tuesday will seek to withdraw the erroneous translation that had been submitted for lawmaker’s consideration and send in a corrected version. The ministry still wants the treaty to be ratified by July 1, Mr. Kim said.

Amb. Tomasz Kozlowski, head of the delegation of the European Union in Seoul, issued a brief statement in which he acknowledged the ministry’s findings and proposed corrections. “The EU has accepted these corrections,” Mr. Kozlowski said. He added the EU is ready to implement the deal on July 1.

Simultaneously, the ministry will take steps to prevent such errors from occurring again. Mr. Kim also said the ministry is reviewing the Korean-language translation of the FTAs with the U.S. and Peru to ensure accuracy.